The Superprestigio returns

In January, in the midst of an epic winter of ice and frigid cold that crushed the spirit of even hardy riders, the one shot of motorcycling greatness that pulled me through to spring was watching the live stream of the Superprestigio.

Right now, I'm guessing most of you are asking, "Super what?"

The Superprestigio was a full evening of indoor, short-track racing featuring some of the biggest names in roadracing, most notably MotoGP Champ Marc Márquez, a main proponent of the event.

And here's the best news of all: The Superprestigio is back for another year, scheduled for December 13.

The revival of the event can be largely traced to Márquez. MM93 is a committed believer in dirt-track racing as a form of training, and you'd better believe that his astounding success in MotoGP has a lot of other roadracers thinking about strapping on a steel shoe and practicing some left turns.

But what really elevated the drama in the January event was the presence of AMA Grand National #1 plate holder Brad "The Bullet" Baker. Márquez is impressively talented on the dirt, but Baker is a full-time, flat-track specialist. The entire night led up to a head-to-head showdown between the two, and the final race did not disappoint. Baker and Márquez left the rest of the pack behind in their final heat and were side by side until Márquez crashed as the two fought for position, leaving Baker to cruise easily to a big victory. Afterwards, Márquez was smiling at least as broadly as after any MotoGP victory.

It's going to be great to watch what the fans in Spain are already calling "la revancha," the rematch.

Another key figure in the Superprestigio was Kenny Noyes, the American racer who lives in Barcelona, races a Superbike in the FIM CEV series in Spain and runs his own dirt-track training camp. Noyes, who raced flat-track in the United States before shifting to roadracing full-time, is riding the #9 Suzuki in the video above and was one of the top finishers. You can see some of the racing from his point of view in the video below.

Other top MotoGP racers who say they plan to line up for the Superprestigio this December include Alvaro Bautista, Scott Redding, Bradley Smith, Tito Rabat, little brother Alex Márquez, and others.

Watch the videos to get in the mood and then set a reminder to be hooked up to your high-speed internet connection on Dec. 13 for la revancha.